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Risksissue no 211 - 18 June 2005 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk. CONTENTS
Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 11,000 subscribers and 1,500 on the TUC website. To receive this bulletin every week, click here. Past issues are available. This edition contains Useful links TUC courses for safety reps Disclaimer and Privacy statement. SPECIAL REPORT - what to do with the corporate killers:Directors must be liable for work deaths, says TUCIndividual directors must be made liable for accidents and injuries sustained at work if there is to be any change in the UK’s poor safety record, the TUC has said. Speaking at a joint TUC and Centre for Corporate Accountability conference on corporate manslaughter, general secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the draft bill on corporate killing (Risks 200). 'By focusing on the wider management failings within an organisation, the draft bill will hopefully make the prosecution of negligent organisations more likely. It is important to emphasise that no one is talking about prosecutions for the sake of it, however we do need the threat of prosecutions if corporate responsibility on health and safety is to be improved.' However, Brendan Barber also called on ministers to make amendments to the current bill, or introduce new legislation to make individual directors liable where their own management failure has resulted in staff being killed or injured at work. 'Under the draft bill only corporations will be able to be held to account. That leads to two problems. The first is that it is not corporations that kill people. A corporation is just a piece of paper. It is actually the decisions of those at the top of organisations, or their lack of actions, that lead to deaths. The other problem is that you can’t put a corporation in prison.' Barber added: 'Either as part of this bill, or separately the government has to look at the issue of directors’ duties. It is fundamental that criminal liability for management applies not only to the corporate body but also to its owners and directors.' He said only five individuals have ever been jailed for a health and safety offence - the last one was in 1999. 'Now I am not a believer that the answer to all crime is to lock people up but five jail sentences for health and safety offences in 30 years? Something is not right.' The consultation period on the government’s corporate killing proposals ended on 17 June. What the others say…CCA: 'Our records show that since 2001, around 2 or 3 companies are prosecuted each year for manslaughter. Therefore although the numbers of prosecutions will, according to government estimates, more than double, it will do so from a very low base. There is a legitimate concern in our view that the scope of the offence is too narrow - and will not cover deaths resulting from very serious management failures that are not the responsibility of the most senior managers of the organisation, which is what the bill currently requires.' Amicus: 'Unless high level managers feel the heat of the law against them personally, we do not think there will be a significant change to company behaviour on health and safety… Organisations could also be subject to Corporate Community Service Orders, requiring them to provide health and safety services to workers or to the local community. To put something back into a community, or to families, or to workers, that have been affected by a workplace death or deaths. Another type of order, which exists in the United States, is a Negative Impact Order. This would require a company to pay for prominent advertising informing people that they have been convicted. This is naming, shaming, publicising and then charging! It could be very effective.' Amicus assistant general secretary Paul Talbot. CWU: 'The draft bill doesn't propose any sanctions on individual directors and senior managers and we will continue to press the government to change their minds on this crucial point. Either as part of this legislation or alongside the new corporate manslaughter law the government must fulfil their promise given by the deputy prime minister in 2000 to impose statutory safety duties upon directors. Unless both these reforms are made, company directors will continue to escape accountability for both 'manslaughter' and other serious safety failures where in all other respects they are seriously culpable.' CWU health and safety officer Dave Joyce. IOSH: 'At present, many larger organisations get away with causing fatalities in their workplaces because you cannot prove ‘a directing mind’. The new bill will remove this obstacle and hit home that serious corporate failures are unacceptable in the modern working world… The corporate manslaughter bill has to be given some teeth - it will not be effective half-baked. It’s bad enough that people do die in the workplace, but allowing those responsible to get away with, in many cases, just a fine is like a slap in the face to the victims.' Institution of Occupational Safety and Health president-elect Neil Budworth. ECA: 'We welcome the draft Bill's application to organisations and not to individuals. There is already legislation to prosecute an individual should the need arise. The proposed corporate manslaughter bill looks like a significant improvement on current law. Companies should make a real effort to follow health and safety legislation… In addition to developing this bill, the government needs to start the ball rolling in the European Union to ensure that foreign-based companies can also be properly held to account.' Electrical Contractors' Association director David Pollock. Shredder boss admits manslaughterA man was killed when an industrial paper shredder started up while he was working on it after his boss ignored 'fatal' flaws with the machine, a court has been told. Paul White, 43, of Drayton, near Norwich, admitted manslaughter over the death of foreman Kevin Arnup in the machine, known as a paper hogger. White had himself referred to the machine 'that bloody dangerous hogger', Norwich Crown Court was told. White, a director of the firm M W White, also admitted failing to ensure workers' safety under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The court heard a stop button on the shredder did not work properly, making it appear as if pressing it switched the machine off when it just paused the machine between gears. It was regular practice for workers to climb onto the shredder to clear blockages while it was in this mode. Father-of-three Mr Arnup, 36, of Thorpe Hamlet, died just before Christmas 2003 after the shredder re-started while he was working on it. William Coker, prosecuting, said the only explanation for the practice of allowing staff to work on the shredder while it was paused was for 'commercial convenience'. The hearing was adjourned to a later date. Giving White unconditional bail Judge Justice Bell told him that this was no suggestion of the sentence to come. 'You must not feel that by releasing you on bail at this stage it is an indication I am thinking one way or another,' he said. Offshore deaths inquiry ruled outThe procurator fiscal in Aberdeen has rejected union and family calls for a fatal accident inquiry into the deaths of two offshore workers (Risks 204). The men's families reacted angrily to the decision after campaigning for an inquiry into the incident on Shell's Brent Bravo platform. Sean McCue, 22, and Keith Moncrieff, 45, died after a massive gas escape in September 2003. Earlier this year, oil firm Shell was fined £900,000 following the deaths. Shell had admitted breaching three health and safety regulations and received what is thought to be the biggest fine imposed on a company following a North Sea accident. Sheriff Patrick Davies said 'a substantial catalogue of errors' caused the deaths of the two men. He said any fine had to be substantial but he took into account that Shell had tendered guilty pleas at an early stage. The families of the men and offshore union leaders had hoped a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) would shed more light on the tragedy. Mr Moncrieff's brother Neil said he was 'extremely disappointed' at the procurator fiscal's decision not to hold an FAI. Shell’s first quarter results, released a day after the £900,000 fine on 28 April, showed the company made an hourly profit of £1.6 million in the first quarter of this year. Australia: Killer bosses to face jail timeNew laws in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) will give courts the power to jail killer bosses. The workplace death legislation passed through state parliament this month. Another law, aimed at ending dangerous and unreasonable deadlines in the trucking industry will take effect next year and also contains the prospect of jail terms for negligent employers. Unions NSW, which co-ordinated a three-year campaign for harsher penalties in the wake of a series of preventable workplace deaths, welcomed the new workplace deaths law (Risks 206). Assistant secretary, Mark Lennon, said the law should be seen as preventive and added: 'We congratulate all parties involved in this step forward for health and safety'. Under the new law’s provisions, official safety agency Workcover will have the power to prosecute 'reckless' employers. Individual employers convicted of recklessly causing death can be jailed for up to five years or fined $165,000. The legislation passed by the ruling Labour state government was strongly opposed by employers’ organisations and the opposition Liberal Party, which is in power nationally. The second law, the Occupational Health and Safety Amendment (Long Distance Truck Driver Fatigue) Regulation 2005, will allow WorkCover to investigate whether trip schedules, driver rosters or loading schedules have contributed to incidents involving long-haul trucks. It will come into effect on 1 March 2006 and follows a NSW government-backed inquiry (Risks 201).
USA: Death firm barred from work for stateA US construction company found criminally responsible for a fatal workplace accident has become the first in Michigan to be banned from doing business with the state. Governor Jennifer Granholm issued an executive order barring Lanzo Construction Co. from receiving any state contracts until 2013, after the company was found guilty of violating state rules and safety procedures in the 1999 construction site death of a worker. 'The state of Michigan and its corporate partners are held to high standards to protect our workers, citizens, environment and laws,' Granholm said. 'Those who don't play by the rules won't win state business.' In October 2004, the company was found guilty of violating the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act in a case initiated by Granholm when she served as attorney general. Lanzo's sentence for safety offences relating to the death of 52-year-old Robert Whiteye included a $10,000 fine (£5,490) and two years of probation. The Granholm administration rules allow companies to be banned from doing business with the state if they are: Associated with a conviction on embezzlement, fraud or bribery charges; lose their state licence; or are found guilty of violating state laws on worker safety, consumer protection, public health or environmental protection. UNION NEWSTUC calls for an end to child labourTUC says nearly 250 million children worldwide should be lifted out of work and into school. Speaking on 12 June, the International Labour Organisation’s World Day Against Child Labour, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber, said: 'Instead of being in school one in every eight children worldwide is being forced into dangerous work, drug trafficking, prostitution and armed conflict. Children as young as five being forced down mines are trapped into a life of poverty.' He said the G8 meeting in Edinburgh next month was an opportunity for the UK government to lead the world’s richer countries. 'To be able to invest resources in education for all developing countries need debt relief and better aid, backed by a trade system that no longer relies on or allows cheap child labour. But developing country governments cannot shirk their responsibilities, they have to make the political decision to provide school for all, rather than just their elite groups.' Barber added: 'Only public pressure on G8 leaders will make this happen so the TUC is urging people to join the July 2 Make Poverty History demonstration in Edinburgh.' ILO says an estimated 245 million children worldwide are engaged in work that deprives them of adequate education, good health or basic freedoms. Of these, 179 million - or one in every eight children worldwide - are exposed to the worst forms of child labour, such as work in hazardous environments, slavery or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, and armed conflict.
Action call after 11 site deaths in two monthsThe construction industry has claimed yet more lives, taking the total since 1 April to 11. The latest fatalities were on 2 June. A 52-year-old man was installing a gas fire fell from a roof as he fitted a flue in a chimney. And a 44-year-old man died after falling through a fragile rooflight at the back of his house in Southall, Middlesex, while showing a roofer what work he wanted done. Construction union UCATT said the number of deaths in the same period last year was nine. It added this year there had been nine deaths in the month from 4 May to 3 June alone. UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie commented: 'This is very bad news for the industry but especially tragic for the families and loved ones of those who have died and my thoughts are with them at this difficult time.' He added: 'This scale of fatalities reinforces our demand for firm sentencing as part of the corporate manslaughter legislation.' Earlier this year, Alan Ritchie said 'it is the prospect of a jail sentence that will change the behaviour of company directors, not a fine' (Risks 200). Bookies’ union says work should be a safe betA spate of robberies at betting shops in Nottinghamshire has prompted a union call for better police protection. Fifteen bookies have been targeted over the past three months in the county. The union Community wants CCTV cameras, security doors and bandit screens to be installed at all betting shops. Luke Chester of Community, the union which represents staff at bookmakers, said: 'We think there should be CCTV across all Ladbrokes shops. Certain shops can control entry at the front door with a buzzer - and this basic system should be installed across all shops.' But Robin Hutchinson, of Ladbrokes, said: 'We have put in every security available and spent more than £2m a year on security, more than any other bookmaker. We have put in covert and overt security features on all our shops in Nottingham.' Union concern over student violence findingsUniversity lecturers’ unions AUT and NATFHE have reacted with extreme concern after a new report exposed shocking levels of student violence against staff working in higher education. The report, published in the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), reveals that over the last five years there have been more than 1,000 incidents of student aggression, sometimes leading to serious injury, against staff working in universities and colleges. The THES findings were revealed in information released under the Freedom of Information Act. THES reporter Phil Baty said: 'There are reports of students in possession of offensive weapons and staff are reported to have received death threats and been victims of stalking, sexual harassment and indecent exposure. In one case, an assault on a member of staff led to a prison sentence for a student.' He added: 'The figures could represent the tip of the iceberg because 37 institutions reported that they had not recorded any incidents of aggression in the past five years,' a figure thought to reflect poor record keeping. AUT general secretary Sally Hunt said the figures revealed 'a worrying trend' and added: 'Our members have an absolute right to work without fear of assault and intimidation and their employers have a clear duty of care to ensure that this is the case.' Andy Pike, a NATFHE national official, said: 'We are horrified at the extent of student violence against academics. We are also deeply concerned that some institutions appear to be doing so little to protect their staff.' OTHER NEWSCampaigners fight for medical exam centresA massive cutback in the number of medical examination centres where people are assessed for industrial injuries benefits is being opposed by union and welfare rights campaigners. The closures, which are the result of government outsourcing of the centres to a private company, are scheduled to take place by 31 August 2005. By the end of the year 21 out of 50 examination centres are due to close, with just four new centres promised. In March, Atos Origin, a European IT services company, was awarded the £500 million contract to deliver medical advice and assessment services for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Colin Hampton, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centres, is spearheading the campaign. 'The decision to close the medical examination centres has not been taken in the interests of the claimants - it is for the administrative convenience and greed of the private contractor,' he said. Part of the DWP contract stipulates that a member of the public must not be expected to travel longer than 90 minutes from their home to the examination centre using public transport. Gill Whittaker, secretary of the Derbyshire branch of the civil service union PCS, said: 'It appears that Atos Origin have looked at the map and seen the opportunity for closures. We understood that the 90 minute rule was a safeguard, not a benchmark.' TUC is backing the campaign against the closures. 'The TUC will be making urgent representations to the DWP to try to ensure that the principle of easy access for all claimants to a medical assessment is maintained,' said TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson. 'It is not just the issue of claimants having to pay the additional costs up-front, it is the considerable difficulty many claimants will have in travelling long distances.'
Remorseless progress of the asbestos epidemicThe extent of Britain’s asbestos cancer epidemics continues to reveal itself in press reports nationwide. The combined toll of asbestos-related lung cancers and mesotheliomas is estimated to be killing in the region of 10 people a day, and the number is rising. Newspaper reports this week covered the inquest into the death of Royal Navy veteran Ken Batty, killed by the asbestos cancer mesothelioma aged 69, after exposure to asbestos lagging on HMS Barfleur. William Nelson, a Royal Navy stoker in the Second World War who also worked in the building trade, died aged 79 from the same cancer, another inquest heard. Peter Luce, 63, a former senior Royal Navy officer, died after working with asbestos on submarines, an inquest was told. Former pub landlord Joe Clarke died of mesothelioma this month aged 66, the result of coming into contact with asbestos while working in demolition in the 1960s. Retired plumber Geoffrey Clarke, 63, died just four weeks after being diagnosed with mesothelioma. Another retired plumber, Graham Buswell, died aged 69 on christmas eve last year from mesothelioma. Plasterer Robert Martin, 63, worked with asbestos throughout his 25-year career and died of mesothelioma, an inquest heard.
Firms failing to provide sickness supportThe majority of UK firms are failing to provide support for workers suffering stress and strains, a survey has found. Mercer Human Resource Consulting says its findings are based on one of the UK’s largest employee healthcare surveys, and says it found as much as 39 per cent of long-term sickness absence is now due to musculoskeletal problems while 30 per cent is due to stress. Over 600 firms were questioned. Christine Owen, head of health management consulting at Mercer, said: 'Musculoskeletal problems and stress are often emotive, sensitive and difficult to diagnose, so they are frequently assigned to the ‘too difficult tray’. The key is effective managerial and clinical intervention, and the earlier the better.' Despite the rising incidence of stress and the increasing cost of sickness absence, over threequarters of companies (77 per cent) do not provide employee assistance programmes, said Mercer. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) do not provide stress management services. The survey also revealed that 4 in 10 employers (41 per cent) do not have an occupational health service. Ms Owen commented: 'Companies that invest in well-targeted and effective occupational health services generally experience much lower sickness absence costs. The savings can be up to five or six times the amount spent on occupational health.' She added: 'The only way to combat employee sickness absence is to implement an integrated health care programme that allows for early identification of problems and rapid intervention.' Time to exercise makes better workersEmployers who heap on the pressure and demand longer hours and fewer breaks are damaging their workers’ health and their company’s productivity. A study of about 200 workers at three UK workplaces - a university, a computer company and a life insurance firm - found that workers who took exercise breaks were more productive. Workers were asked to complete questionnaires about their job performance and mood on days when they exercised at work and days when they didn't. Participants were free to engage in the physical activity of their choice. Most of them spent 30 to 60 minutes at lunch doing everything from yoga and aerobics to strength training and basketball. Six out of 10 workers said their time management skills, mental performance and ability to meet deadlines improved on days when they exercised. The overall performance boost was about 15 per cent, found the study. 'The people who exercised went home feeling more satisfied with their day,' commented the study author, Professor Jim McKenna of Leeds Metropolitan University. Doctors need substance abuse supportThe British Medical Association (BMA) has called for more support systems for doctors after a BBC survey showed alcohol and drug abuse was widespread. BBC One's ‘Real Story’ found over the last 10 years 750 hospital staff in England had been disciplined over alcohol and drug related incidents. Responding to the BBC survey, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA’s head of science and ethics, said: '1 in 15 doctors will, at some point in their lifetime, have some kind of problem with alcohol or drugs ranging from misuse up to dependence that may affect their care of patients.' She added: 'There are some services already available to doctors such as the BMA’s counselling service and its advisory unit ‘Doctors for Doctors’, but the government could do more by investing in specially designed services that will meet the distinct needs of doctors. Doctors respond extremely well to treatment when they have the appropriate services available to them. Research has shown that the vast majority of doctors will make a full recovery.' Union-run 'member assistance programmes' are a highly effective way to address workplace drug and alcohol problems, according to a 2003 Hazards report (Risks 134). INTERNATIONALJamaica: Unions call for action on sugar firm deathsUnions in the Jamaican sugar industry are demanding urgent health and safety measures following a series of fatal accidents. A meeting on safety in the country’s sugar and banana industries, organised by global foodworkers’ union federation IUF and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and the University and Allied Workers Union (UAWU), called on the government to investigate recent workplace fatalities and to take corrective measures. A machinist at one sugar factory died on 31 March as a result of injuries sustained when a cane knife exploded, scattering metal fragments. Two other workers were injured in the accident. On 21 April, an estate worker was buried under 30 tonnes of sugar while cleaning a silo. Reports indicate that in both cases health and safety procedures were not being followed. On 5 June, three workers and two family members were killed in their residences on the Monymusk Sugar Estate when an electrical short circuit caused a fire. A second resolution from the meeting called on the government to ratify, as a matter of urgency, ILO Convention 184 on health and safety in agriculture and to pass national regulations on workplace health and safety. Only seven governments have so far ratified the ILO agriculture convention, which was agreed in 2001. The UK is not among them. U S A: Groups sue watchdog over pesticide risk to farm kidsA generation of America’s most vulnerable children face an increased risk from exposure to hazardous pesticides, according to a lawsuit filed last week against the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The suit, by a coalition of labour, environmental and public health groups, charges the agency with ignoring the special risk to children growing up on farms. It says more than a million children of farmworkers live near farms in the US, and more than 300,000 farmers’ children under the age of six live on farms. 'Children of farmworkers breathe pesticides that drift from the fields, and they often live, play, and go to school right next to pesticide-treated orchards,' said Erik Nicholson of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), the union representing tens of thousands of farmworkers. 'It’s commonsense to protect our kids, but EPA is ignoring them.' The plaintiffs say EPA is ignoring growing scientific evidence that farm children face increased health risks because of pesticide exposure, which has been linked to neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, reduced cognitive functioning and reduced coordination; developmental delays in infants and children; reproductive harms, such as infertility, stillbirths, birth defects and musculoskeletal defects; and cancer, including brain tumours, leukaemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, sarcoma and Wilm’s tumour. USA: Unions make workplaces healthier says CWA
RESOURCESFind out about your life with the EurLIFE databaseThe European Foundation has launched an 'interactive database of quality of life indicators.' The Dublin-based agency has included results from the Foundation’s European Quality of Life Survey and other statistical resources in the new online searchable database, EurLIFE. The Foundation’s surveys have provided heavily-used information on workplace health and safety in Europe, including showing that far from declining, old work hazards are persisting and being supplemented by a range of new hazards linked to the new technology and the pace and organisation of work. 'EurLIFE is an easy-access interactive information tool accessible to everyone interested in gathering data on European quality of life,' commented Willy Buschak, acting director of the European Foundation. 'For the first time, policymakers, researchers and journalists will be able to access and manipulate this data in an easy and timely manner, contributing significantly to filling the information gap which has existed in this area to date.' An employment section covers issues including hours worked and workplace stress, control, satisfaction, pressure and hazards. Take a look - did you know, for example, that UK workers report they endure nearly twice the European average for boring work? Partners for better health newslettersThe Health and Safety Executive is publishing an online quarterly newsletter providing updates on its 'Securing Health Together' (SH2) programme, the government’s 10-year occupational health strategy launched in July 2000. There are also case histories and background information on a dedicated SH2 website. You can also find details of the Health and Safety Commission’s occupational health targets for 2010 - and you can work out how unlikely it is to meet almost all of them. EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2005Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside COURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2005HSE noise and vibration roadshowsThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the EEF - the manufacturers' organisation - will jointly be running a series of noise and vibration roadshows across the UK in September and October 2005. HSE says at work over 1.1 million people are at risk from high levels of noise and about 1.7 million people are at risk from hand arm vibration (HAV). New EU-based regulations for the control of risks in the work place from vibration come into force in Great Britain from July 2005, and noise regulations will be updated in early 2006. The planned roadshows are to advise employers of the changes taking place. Steve Walter, EEF's health and safety policy adviser, said: 'We welcome our member companies but also other employers, members of trade associations and safety representatives.'
USEFUL LINKSVisit the TUC http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/ website pages on health and safety. See what’s on offer from TUC Publications and What’s On in health and safety.Subscribe to Hazards magazine, supported by the TUC as a key source of information for union safety reps.What’s new in the HSC/E and the European Agency.HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165; fax: 01787 313995. |
Unions can have a dramatic impact on every aspect of workplace health and safety, a top US union has said. The message accompanied by grassroots case histories came at this month’s occupational health and safety conference of the CWA, the US communications union. More than 200 safety and health activists shared success stories and planned strategies for the improvement of safety and health in their workplaces. CWA executive vice president Larry Cohen commented: 'Our health and safety work clearly distinguishes what it means to work union, whether pushing for safety and health improvements in a lead acid battery plant, a hospital, on the police force, or as an outside technician or service rep.' Delegates heard a series of success stories from union reps. Local 9111 of the California Organization of Police and Sheriffs lobbied successfully to get cancer, blood-borne diseases and heart disease presumed job-related and covered by workers' compensation for police officers in California. Flight attendants were instrumental in negotiating the elimination of smoking on flights and means to ensure 'increased survivability' in airplane accidents. Local 7800 described its annual 'safety rodeo' where all installer trucks and buckets are inspected. Unsafe trucks are 'red tagged' for dangerous equipment such as failing brakes, bald tyres, and cracks in lifting devices. In the 1970s, print union Amicus-GPM pioneered red tagging of dangerous machinery in the UK, preventing its use until safety problems were remedied. Evidence worldwide has proven the 'union safety effect'.Newsletter (5,600 words) issued 17 Jun 2005